30 Weeks!! Baby Shower & Check-Up

First of all let me say THANK YOU to all those who took the journey out to the country for our Baby Shower. Hopefully the margaritas and Lupe Tortilla's mexican food brought you back to life!! Then you were put to sleep after indulging in my favorite ecstasy of all time....CAKE!!!!! My poor friend Donna ( who is 17 weeks pregnant ) over did herself on it and had a little "Meet the Potty Party" when we got back to my house that night! I can definitely say that our house is beginning to look like a Babies R' Us Store now with all your generosity!! I truly had no idea how much stuff it takes to get ready for the little man to get here!!

Jaxton's furniture has finally arrived here in Houston at some warehouse and we should have it here in a few days....14 weeks later!!! Ross may have to run down to Home Depot to get the right tools to put it together....hopefully though I have enough of them in "MY TOOLBOX" to get the job done.....yes, I did say my toolbox because I have yet to see Ross's!! When I married him he showed up with a set of "miniature screwdrivers" and half of those were missing anyways!!

The last few weeks have gone by so fast since my last doctor's apt. One of my doctor's tried to pull up my shirt to see if my belly button had popped out yet!!!!! Thank goodness for quick reflexes or he might have gotten stuck by one of the black stray hairs that seems to keep growing around my belly button!!!! Tweezers were a great invention!!! Then one of my other doctor's was sitting next to me at a dinner program asking me how I was feeling and then said " I see Jaxton is a STRONG boy...you are getting a mustache!!!!!!!" What??? Little did he know that I just can't stand getting my upper lip waxed and I can't use Sally Hansen's hair removal due to the chemicals so I have been just praying it won't grow too long...BUT I guess my prayer hasn't been answered!!! Mach 5 here I come!!!!

Okay, it has been 3 weeks since my last doctor's apt and now they will be every 2 weeks until 36 weeks then we will go every week thereafter. Jaxton I know has really grown these past few weeks because I can feel his kicks are much stronger now. Nothing like detailing my doctor and then going "ugh" when he gets a rib!! I even felt his hiccups for sure twice in one day. They were like little constant thumps for about 5 minutes!! They say that it doesn't hurt them like it hurts us but that if they do it in the womb they will probably do it when they are born. I also can feel his feet kicking on one side of my stomach and his hands punching on the other side when I am sleeping at night so he must be getting longer too!! As for his testosterone....he is secreting WAY TOO MUCH into my blood stream because the unwanted friends are back to PARTAY on my face once again!!

Last, but I wish it was the least, I have gained 6 more pounds to make a grand total of 23 pounds so far!!! I have actually made it into the 140's now!!!!!! Wow!! I knew I was there when I tried to look down and couldn't see my WOOWOO anymore!!!

Please keep us in your daily prayers that the LORD will continue to BLESS us with a healthy pregnancy AND that no matter what Stephanie puts in her mouth over the next few more weeks let her metabolism RISE to this special occasion so she doesn't look like Miss Piggy with a Mustache!!!!

Friends, Fun & Furniture

No up-date on my weight gain yet...that will be next Wednesday BUT I know he has grown since my poor "little" belly button is trying to pop out!!! I keep trying to push it in but NO LUCK!!! Sharla, my teammate, told me yesterday we will just have to DECORATE it then! LOL!!! Jaxton has been moving around ALOT more these days throughout the day....BUT I have figured out a trick to get him to sleep through the night ( Ha ) ....since last week I was up several mornings in a row at 4 and 5 am.....LOTS and LOTS of walking during the day and nighttime exercise....puts him right to sleep!!! BUT I still have not figured out what to do with all the HORMONES again that have really shown up on my face this past week...could be all the 98 DEGREE days too taking a toll!! Other than that things are going great....still no CONSTIPATION...YET!!! HA!!

A couple weekends ago I had my Mom's BEST ( and I mean BEST ) FRIEND and her family ( who I grew up with ) come over for some dinner and catch up...and what a night that turned out to be!! First of all, the kids ( Clayton and Savannah ) wanted to go fishing outside so Ross set them up with Rods and Bait and then headed to the porch...he wanted NOTHING to do with baiting the hook or removing the fish from the hook....I NEVER KNEW HE HATED THAT!! I guess we will have to get him some "baiting lessons"...so Laura can you do that for a Christmas present???? Well the kids ended up catching fish after fish and Savannah even KISSED the fish...what a Brave little girl ( maybe she can help Ross!!!)

But Ross is a great Boat Captain!! He took the kids for a boat ride around the canals but before take off.....Ross had to have his beer in his coozie and Savannah wanted to have her apple juice to sip during the cruise...how sweet!!!

We ate dinner and then it was time for KARAOKE!!!!! We have a Karaoke machine that is hooked up through our surround system BUT Ross found out that on Comcast their is FREE Karaoke with ALL kinds of music.....you must look into this if you have Comcast!!!! I thought this would be fun for the kids BUT it turned out that MY MOM, BETTY and ROSS were fighting over which songs to Karaoke too.....HELP!!! They even provided us with their best DANCING moves....HELP!!!! The kids had a ball and Ross showed them how to play guitar and he even sang a few oldies for us....I can just picture our family doing this with Jaxton....CAN'T WAIT!!!!

Last week we FINALLY got one piece of baby furniture in....the RECLINER!!!! It is totally amazing and I HIGHLY recommend anyone wanting one to get this one...there is a picture above AND this chair obviously will fit into our home decor just fine after we use it for Jaxton. This is one of the only recliners we found that will glide while in a reclined position!! The comfort level is a TEN too!!!!

We finally put the bassinet together too!! This is called a Co-Sleeper because it can attach to your bed so don't even have to get out of bed to do those DREADED nighttime feedings!! I was very impressed by the product but will let you know just how good it is when we put it to use!!

Ross and I finished our ChildBirthing Classes last week....don't know if we passed yet...have to wait until after the delivery to tell you that!! Ross did get caught not listening AGAIN!! As the women were practicing a SHALLOW breathing technique the men were supposed to be counting for us and knowing where we were in the process BUT then she asked the men to try what we were doing and Ross came out with this (He,He,He,He,He,He ) FAST HEAVY breathing maneuver.....he was in total LaLa Land!!! "That's it!!" I told him....I'm getting MY MOMMY to help me!!!! Needless to say....we should be just fine...maybe he will end up making me laugh so much I won't even feel the contractions....well maybe just a few!!!

I took my first Breastfeeding class last night so I could prepare for the BEST LATCH-ON technique there is for ULTIMATE SUCCESS!!! Well we will just have to see how that goes.....LOTS of little rules and LOTs of things to buy to go along with this breastfeeding thing!! But it was so funny because at the end of the class when she asked for any questions the only one was " How much alcohol can we drink while breastfeeding?" And NO...I did NOT ask the question ( but couldn't wait to hear the answer)!!! She said one glass of wine should be just fine. ( But I was thinking to myself...."What about 2????" ) Then someone asked the question!!!! She said as long as it is in the blood its in your milk. So if you are feeling the effects don't nurse!!! You must PUMP and DUMP!!! If you drink a little and are feeling fine you can nurse! Well at least I can have ONE WHOLE glass of wine!!!! So therefore I have registered at Spec's too.....Just Kidding!!!

Well next week I am sure our house will start to look really different....we are having our 1st Baby Shower at my sister's this weekend!! Thank Goodness Hurricane Dolly veered off to the west or we might of had to have a Hurricane Party!!! For those of you who are making it this weekend we will see you then!!! For those of you who could not I will catch you up with pictures next week!!!

Relaxation Getaway It Was!!!!

Well our July 4th get-away to Austin was exactly what we needed....TOTAL RELAXATION!!! I can't remember a time when I did absolutley nothing for 4 days on a vacation!! BUT did we sure need it!!

We got to Austin on Thursday and arrived at Lakeway Resort & Spa and where did we head first...you got it..to the POOL!! The pool was AWESOME....a 3 tiered pool with a swim up bar at the top which was ADULTS ONLY!!! It overlooked Lake Travis so you could see all the action out in the water and watch a beautiful sunset behind all the sailboats!! Oh yea, we had "children" too outside our hotel room....out off of our veranda we had deer!!! Which they absolutely loved Wheat Thins....this was their meal every day for the next 4 days!!!

That night we went to my good friends house ( Giovanni & Megan ) to catch up and then they picked us up at Carlos & Charlie's in their new boat to hang out in the lake and watch the fireworks....which we ended up having like a front row seat!! Then we went back to the hotel and crashed!!

Ross got up and went water-skiing with Gio while I went out to the pool early and read my book while it was still cool and ate "PANCAKES" by the pool...YUM!!! Ross joined me later and then we hung out by the pool all day....luckily I brought my float and was able to stay cool all day while sipping on Virgin Pins Coladas and Gatorade!! Jaxton LOVED the relaxtion and I could really feel him move around all day!! I think other people could see his kick through my tummy from across the pool!!! We went to eat at a fabulous Italian place that night at Rocco's and then headed back to hotel and crashed AGAIN!!!

Saturday we woke up and were going to get massages!!! Yea!!! As we were getting ready I asked Ross to please flush continuously, which he did, but he could have gone down the hall like my Dad used to do and like my sister's husband does for her...BUT oh no..not for me!! So I said I was going to wash up down at the Spa before our massage and left. When I got there they told me they overbooked Ross's massage and was going to do it in his room!!!!! HA!!!! Pay backs BABY!!! He was mortified and much less it was a MAN coming to RUB HIM DOWN!!! I was laughing so hard to myself while I was getting my FIRST pregnancy massage just thinking of the nice aroma the two of them were inhaling while a MAN was rubbing oil all over Ross!!!! Are you with me on this one??

We ended up at the pool all day again and chillin'!! We went to eat at Iguana Joe's...very cool Mexican Restaurangt that overlooks the Lake with an outside band and then we went back to the hotel and guess what???....CRASHED!!!

Sunday we woke up and went to the Oasis to have brunch before we headed back. They have totally re-done the whole place since it burned done....a must do if you get over to Austin!!!

Monday we returned to our 2nd Child Birth Class and learned all about PAIN meds to help during labor....EPIDURAL is the one word I won't forget to say come October!!!! We learned more breathing techniques which I am not sure I will remember these in October!!! I did learn that I have been experiencing early labor contractions called Braxton-Hicks...no wonder my tummy would get really had all of a sudden!!! Weird!!!

Wednesday I had my check-up and had to get WEIGHED AGAIN!!! I was so nervous since I had gained 10 pounds last month!!! BUT what a HUGE RELIEF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had gained ZERO!!! She said this was totally normal....she measured my belly and it said I was right at 28 weeks...right on schedule!!! So up to this point I had gained 17 pounds...but I am still holding on for these next few weeks of rapid weight gain little Jaxton will put on!! I did a Glucose Tolerance test today too to make sure I don't have gestational diabetes...I'm pretty sure I don't. She is going to see me in three weeks and then start seeing me every two weeks...........YIKES.........it is really gonna be here soon!!!!

I found a pediatrician right near us, thanks to my good friend Leah, that is a Texas Children's Pediatrics Associates!! She was great and full of energy....thank GOD I found someone I really like!!!!

Well...That's All Folks!!!!!!!!!!!

33 Years of Waiting!!

After 33 years of dreaming of what it would be like to paint my first born's room....I finally experienced it!! What a true blessing to be thinking of him the entire time that this was especially planned just for him!! But I did not anticipate all those years my husband would "hate" to paint!!! Thank GOD he gave me the ability to know how to do it!!!

WE ( and I truly mean "both" of us ) painted the ceiling a light blue. I learned men ( and boys I am sure) must be told several times how to do something "correct" before it sinks in!! I just had to laugh to keep me from crying!! The top part of the room I ( this is where Ross decided he should go watch his sports and check on me every know and then ) I painted a blue that matches Jaxton's bedding and then painted the bottom part with chocolate crackle where the blue comes through the cracks a little bit. FUN!!! But thankfully it's all done...I forgot how great of a work out it is to paint.....up and down that ladder works out your calves and rolling the paint gives you an awesome upper body workout!! Too bad I can't take lots of Tylenol!!

Jaxton has sure been giving me some big kicks this week to the point where you can see my belly pop up and jerk when he does it. He loves to roll around too...a little painful at time though!! He is laying across my belly which they call "transverse" which makes him hang out really low...BUT at least I don't have indigestion from him being so high!!! Hopefully he turns when the time comes!!

Monday night Ross and I started our first of three classes on Child Birth at the hospital. You could definitely notice who those couples were walking down the hospital halls to the class because we had to bring a pillow and for some reason ALL the guys were carrying it. Maybe they felt scared and it was there "blankie"!! After learning all about dilation of the cervix and how the baby actually rotates itself to fit through our pelvis bone the teacher turned a video on for us to watch....little did I KNOW that we would be watching the delivery of the PLACENTA too!!!!!!! I think I was more freaked out how gross it was than Ross....he just said it looked like a BIG JELLYFISH!!! Ewwwwwwwwwwwww!!! Thank GOD she finally gave us a break because Ross had been crossing his legs and holding his breath for some time now since he had to PEE so bad.....He's worse than a pregnant woman in this area!!! I guess he taking a few pointers from the pregnancy...stay "hydrated"!!

She then went on to teach the husbands how to try to help us relax during labor.....YEAH RIGHT!!! The girls sat in a chair backwards and the guys sat in a chair behind us learning where it felt good on our backs to be massaged. After many times telling Ross that I don't need a "deep-tissue" massage and putting my hand on his figgity leg I think he finally caught onto my motto " CALM and RELAXING"!! Hope he remembers when the time comes or I'm getting my MOMMY!!! Just kidding Honey!!

Tuesday we finally got to meet up with the Ole' Pasadena Pfizer crew!! Michelle, Humphrey, Claudia, Lou ( and his G-friend ) , Evan ( and his wife Mikah) and Ross and I met out at Hugo's for some dinner and catching up!! Time sure does fly when we are together...I guess you could say WE ALL HAVE ALOT TO SAY....what are we salespeople??? Claudia got teary eyed when she saw my belly, Michelle asked if the baby was okay since she didn't think I looked FAT enough, Mikah said she hoped she looked like me when I was pregnant ( that was the first TRUE complement I have had..THANK YOU!!), and Humphrey said I would probably be at 24-Hour Fitness the day after the baby was born...Lots of laughs!!!! I can never get enough of hanging out with great friends!!!

Well Ross and I are off to a long get-away weekend in Austin at Lakeway Resort & Spa to get some rest and relaxation before Jaxton gets here. So I will up-date you next week!! Ross has man-groomed to prepare for it and I bought one more maternity swim suit to "try to look sexy"!!